New Würzburg hospital ward will serve soldiers injured in Iraq

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To help relieve the crowding at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the Würzburg Army Hospital has opened a new ward dedicated partly for soldiers injured in Iraq.

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While Landstuhl Regional Medical Center remains the first stop for most troops evacuated from the Middle East, April’s massive influx of casualties in Iraq put Würzburg into the picture.

Teel said for now the hospital is not handling seriously wounded soldiers, such as recent amputees or those with brain injuries. But 1st Infantry Division soldiers with broken bones or shrapnel wounds are being treated closer to home at Würzburg after brief stays at Landstuhl.

Army reservists from the New Jersey-based 348th General Hospital — who are staffing the hospital while the Würzburg-based medical team serves in Iraq — spent three days in mid-April moving into the ward, said Maj. James Barker, acting head nurse.

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=21989

Comment: This new ward has a mere 24 added beds. The US sustained at least 50 injuries last Sunday alone, and Landstuhl is full. Certainly, we're going to need a bigger ward if Bush or Kerry plan to stay in Iraq much longer. We're going to need a draft as well because the reserve units who have replaced the Wuerzburg staff are already doing back-to-back deployments, most having missed out on two years of their children's lives stateside.

One must ask Bush, just what is all that oil worth to you? The very security of our nation?